Mother's instinct saved skateboarder

By
Amy Corderoy

Jan. 13, 2013, 3 a.m.

HE MAY not feel that way right now but Thomas Harper is lucky. For the next six weeks, the 12-year-old has to take it easy but is expected to make a full recovery from the blood clot that developed on his brain after he fell off his skateboard while not wearing a helmet.

HE MAY not feel that way right now but Thomas Harper is lucky. For the next six weeks, the 12-year-old has to take it easy but is expected to make a full recovery from the blood clot that developed on his brain after he fell off his skateboard while not wearing a helmet.

He is particularly lucky because it was only his mother's instinct something was wrong that meant he returned to hospital after he initially showed no signs of a clot.

''There was no egg on his head, no visible bruising, he was otherwise fine,'' his mother, Valerie, said. ''I think it was a bit of a mother's feeling. I just thought 'there's something not right'.''

Thomas was skating when his board got ''death wobbles'', meaning it was shaking fast from side to side. He tried to jump off but fell and hit his head on a nearby bollard.

Thomas says people his age often don't like to wear helmets.

''Sometimes it gets really annoying when it's on your head''. But now he agrees with his doctor, Brian Owler. ''You should wear them all the time''.